Donate Life South Carolina is gearing up for the observance of National Donor Sabbath during the month of November.
The annual observance is designed to raise awareness, especially through the religious communities, of the urgent need for organ and tissue donation.
In a letter sent to South Carolina clergy and other religious leaders, Kelly Drew of Travelers Rest, a member of Calvary First Baptist Church in Greenville, said, “I’m a kidney-pancreas transplant recipient and in good health thanks to the precious gift of life another gave me.”
She continued, “I am no longer on the list of approximately 102,000 Americans waiting to receive a donor organ. Unfortunately, every 11 minutes another person is added to that transplant waiting list, while every 90 minutes someone waiting for a transplant dies.”
Generally, Baptists believe that organ and tissue donation and transplantation are matters of personal conscience. However, the Southern Baptist Convention, at its 1988 annual meeting in San Antonio, adopted a resolution that encouraged “volunteerism regarding organ donations in the spirit of stewardship, compassion for the needs of others and alleviating suffering.”
Materials on organ and tissue donation are available to churches who submit their orders by Oct. 9 to Donate Life South Carolina’s executive director Tracy Armstrong, e-mail tarmstrong@donatelifesc.org., phone 1-877-277-4866, or by visiting www.donatelifesc.org.
“The lack of organ and tissue donors in America is a national tragedy,” said Drew, “and we hope that a nationally observed Donor Sabbath will give greater visibility to this critical need.”